Violence is an integral part of contemporary sports. But how much of it is acceptable? And in what forms?

Violence can be defined as any interpersonal behavior intended to cause physical harm or mental distress. Most discussions of sports-related violence concentrate on physical harm—i.e., bodily injury. Setting aside the question of motivation, most psychologists approach the study of sports-related physical violence from a behaviouristic perspective. They infer the intention of assailants from their observable actions. In a sports context, aggression, which is often discussed as if it were synonymous with violence, can best be defined as an unprovoked physical or verbal assault. Aggressiveness, therefore, is the propensity to commit such an assault.

In attempting to map patterns of violence, sociologists such as Michael Smith have developed a sports-violence typology in which “brutal body contact” is seen as integral to some sports. This contact conforms to the rules of the sport and is completely legitimate even when the same sort of behaviour outside the sports context is defined as criminal. Examples of legitimate violence can be found in rugby and gridiron footballand in boxing, wrestling, and Asian martial arts. Participants in these sports, by the very act of taking part, have implicitly accepted the inevitability of rough contact. They have implicitly consented to the probability of minor injury and the possibility of serious injury. They cannot, however, reasonably be said to have agreed to injuries sustained from physical assaults that violate the written and unwritten rules of the sport. Although violence of this latter sort is definitely illegitimate and sometimes illegal, it has proved very difficult for injured athletes to find redress in the courts. Judges and juries are reluctant to convict athletes of criminal behaviour committed in the course of a sports contest, and they are equally reluctant to convict coaches, schools, and sports leagues of negligence.

“Borderline violence” consists of behaviours that violate the official rules of the sport but that are accepted by players and fans alike as a legitimate part of the game. Such behaviour—a fistfight in ice hockey or an intentional foul in association football’s penalty zone—is rarely subject to legal proceedings and tends to be dealt with by penalties imposed by referees, umpires, or league administrators. A memorable example of this occurred in 1997 when the Nevada Boxing Commission censured and banned heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson for biting his opponent. More-extreme rule infractions—i.e., those that violate not only the formal rules of the sport but also the law of the land—elicit a harsher formal response, especially when the violence results in serious injury. High or late tackles in gridiron football usually create serious outrage and have on occasion led to the strict imposition of a lifetime ban, but recourse to the law in cases of quasi-criminal violence is infrequent. Finally, Smith’s typology includes what he termed “criminal violence”—that is, behaviour so egregious that it is handled legally from the outset because it is not considered part of the game.

While legal scholars have sought to distinguish legitimate from illegitimate sports violence, social psychologists and sociologists have investigated the causes of sports-related violence. Here the discussion revolves around broader nature-nurture debates and the role that sports are believed to play in society. Those who believe that aggression and violence are “natural” tend to view them as instinctive and inevitable aspects of human behaviour. From the perspective of Konrad Lorenz and others in this camp, sports are seen as a form of catharsis; they allow for the safe and channeled release of the aggression that is part of every person’s instinctive makeup.

Most sports sociologists, however, challenge this hypothesis and believe instead that research confirms that violence and aggression are socially learned. This latter view is supported by the fact that the levels and types of sports-related violence vary greatly from culture to culture, which strongly suggests that they are not the result of some universal human nature. Canadian ice hockey, for example, is more violent in some respects than its Scandinavian counterpart. The reason for this is that Canadian ice hockey provides a subcultural context in which boys and young men are introduced to highly aggressive behaviour. In this and in many other sports subcultures, brutal body contact and physical assault are part and parcel of what it means to be a man. Conformity to the code of toughness certifies a player’s masculinity and confers upon him honour and prestige. Those who fail to meet such expectations drop out of the subculture or are subject to peer sanctions.